


Blue to Black and Back

by transmothmun



Series: Shance Fluff Week 2k17 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Lance (Voltron), Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Lance (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), Pre-Relationship, Shance Fluff Week 2017, sort of? its more mentioned than anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 03:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11095497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transmothmun/pseuds/transmothmun
Summary: Black/Blue for Shance Fluff Week 2017-Shiro is surprised to find that Lance, not Keith, took up the mantle of the Black Paladin while he was missing.





	Blue to Black and Back

If there was one thing Shiro knew he was good at, it was admitting when he was wrong. It didn't happen often- which sounded an  _ awful _ lot like bragging, frankly, but it was the truth- but when it did, Shiro prided himself on being able to accept his mistake and do his best to fix it.

In most scenarios, anyway. Admittedly he was having a bit of trouble in this case, less because he didn't want to be wrong and more because he was simply having trouble understanding exactly where he went wrong.

"I thought Keith was supposed to have been piloting Black."

Lance looked a bit (extremely) offended (and a bit hurt) at Shiro's disbelief, and he immediately struggled to backtrack, because  _ wow _ that came out a lot harsher than he'd meant it to.

"I mean, you're a great pilot, but I've never really thought of you as..."

"A leader? And you did with Keith?" It was accompanied by a disbelieving snort. Allura shifted uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye, obviously debating whether or not she should jump in before Lance got started, but she made her decision too late. "Don't get me wrong, he's a good friend and I'm glad to be on his side in a fight, but you've obviously managed to overlook how damn reckless he is. He can't plan jack shit, let alone relay a plan to the team."

And, alright, those are were fair points. Keith  _ did _ have a habit of thinking first and acting later, but Shiro had been  _ sure _ that leading the team would help him work past that. "Did he even try?"

Again, it was probably the wrong thing to say. Lance's already irritated expression grew darker, and he turned away with a huff. He mumbled something Shiro couldn't catch beneath his breath before doing a complete 180.

"Whatever. I'm going to hang out with Blue, I've missed her."

Before Shiro got a chance to say anything else, he was watching the paladin slip out the door of the control room. For a few moments he stared at the door before turning back to the princess with a helpless expression. She sighed, raking a hand through her hair.

"Shiro, I understand your expectations for Keith, but Black would not let him in, and it did let Lance in. We did not have the time for him to gain the traits necessary for Black to accept him, not to mention doing so would have been unfair to both Black and Lance." She gave him a slightly piteous look before turning back to the control panel, only casting one more brief glance back at him. "You should apologize to Lance. I understand you meant well, but I do not think he does. He did excellently given the circumstances, you know."

Of course he did. Shiro didn't know why he was so surprised- Lance  _ had _ shown remarkable initiative since long before the final battle against Zarkon. He supposed he'd overlooked that in the same way he'd refused to acknowledge the qualities that would make Keith incapable of leading. Sighing, Shiro turned to follow Lance to the Blue Lion's hangar, hoping he hadn't been lying about his destination. The other had always seemed to know the castle far better than him, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to find any hidden sanctuaries the blue paladin used.

Thankfully, as he stepped into the hangar, he was greeted with the sight of Lance draped over his lion’s paw in a characteristically dramatic fashion. What was  _ not _ characteristic, however, was the soft frown tugging down on his lips, and Shiro's gut dropped in guilt again.

"Lance?" He settled down in front of him, crossing his legs and folding his arms in his lap. "Can I talk to you or should I come back later?"

For a few moments Lance was quiet, hesitantly shifting enough so that he could return Shiro's gaze. Eventually he let out a small puff of air and pushed himself into a sitting position. "What is it?"

Seeing his face up close only made Shiro guiltier- Lance was the kind of person he imagined shouldn't have anything but something akin to a smile on his face, and cliche as it was, he felt terrible to have been the one to take it away. He almost wondered if it was too late to back out- but,  _ no _ , this had to be done.

"I just wanted to apologize. I know...  _ well _ , pretty much everything I said, came out really wrong. It's really not you, it's just..." He spent a few moments avoiding Lance's eyes and stumbling to figure out how to properly word things. "I guess I just had unreasonably high expectations, for Keith at least, and I was surprised he hadn't been able to meet them when someone else had. If that makes sense, I mean."

After a minute of silence, he finally lifted his gaze back up to Lance, and was pleased to find that the earlier frown was gone. His smile was a little bit forced, but it was an improvement from before, at the very least. Some of the tension left his shoulders.

"I know, I guess I was just overreacting some. Don't worry too much about it, 'kay?" And, alright, suddenly the smile didn't seem any better than the frown. Shiro's own frown deepened.

"I don't think you were overreacting. I was pretty rude, and besides, you're an amazing pilot and you're great with people, and you were right- I had completely overlooked Keith's flaws without really considering the consequences. It was irresponsible of me, and I still reacted poorly."

Yet more silence followed after that as Lance pondered what he said, his grin dropping back into something significantly more neutral. His eyes once again wandered away from Shiro's, and in fact seemed to be looking almost anywhere but at him.

"I guess."

Shiro waited a few moments to see if Lance would continue, and when he didn't, he sighed. "You guess? Do you not believe me?"

"No!  _ No _ , I do," Lance sounded a bit panicked and Shiro forced himself to resist pulling the other into a hug. "I... I dunno. I guess I thought you might have been right before, or something. No one  _ else _ really believed I'd be any good at first either."

This time Shiro didn't stop himself, shifting to his knees and pulling Lance to his chest, resting his head atop of Lance's and subconsciously (not really) noting how soft his hair was, a fact he’d probably (definitely) ponder in great detail later, in the safety of his room. “Allura said you did amazingly, you know. Even if they didn’t believe in you in the beginning, they do now, don’t they? You proved them wrong, that has to count for something.”

Lance didn’t respond at first besides a slight nod of his head, instead choosing to relax into Shiro’s arms for a while, which admittedly  _ really _ didn’t help with the whole ‘ponder how soft Lance is later’ thing, but this wasn’t about him.

“Thanks, Shiro.” He looked a little red when he pulled away- Shiro chalked it up to being embarrassed about the situation. He offered a small smile and was pleased to find a genuine one being returned.

“Anytime, Lance.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> i stg after this week's oneshots im going to get on that klance pirate au. ive started it and then just  
> ,,,,, shance, ok


End file.
